This year’s collection of poetry, prose, photography and art addresses the consequences and solutions to community issues such as poverty, gender inequality, lack of education, injustice and climate change. -- Jacqueline Shi Mississauga Youth Anthology Project Lead Ink Movement Mississauga

This year’s Mississauga Youth Anthology focuses on “Community Development.” Our goal is to showcase what empowerment means to the youth in our community, whether that be by volunteering in the community, solving problems with like-minded people, exploring their passions, or anything in between. We asked youth to take the Global Goals for Sustainable Development into consideration for some inspiration. -- Uswa Zahoor, President, Ink Movement Mississauga

Ink Movement has always been a socially conscious organization, so it was a natural fit for us to organize a youth anthology around the theme of sustainable development. More specifically, we wanted to know what ‘Community’ means to youth, and what they can do, or have done, to improve the communities they belong to. Which issues resonate with them? How have youth affected local and global, or ‘glocal’ change?--Maxwell Tran Founder and Executive Director Ink Movement

Author bio: Valerie Drego holds a Ph.D. in literature and a post graduate Diploma in Business Management. She is a short story writer and poet. She received the Editor’s Choice Award for Outstanding Achievement in Poetry, presented by the National Library of Poetry, 1998. She is also a novelist and non-fiction author. Her crime novel, The Rhymester, was judged a finalist in an open competition hosted by Crime Writers of Canada for the Unhanged Arthur Award, 2012. Her non-fiction work, End Zone, is a study of Bible prophecy and the last days. Her books are available through major international distribution channels including Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and in consignment through her publisher In Our Words Inc., www.inourwords.ca.